


My Gaming Sunshine | A Kenma x Reader Fanfiction

by haikyuu_philia



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Awkward Flirting, F/M, First Love, Gaming, Nekoma, Slice of Life, Social Issues, Teen Romance, Volleyball Dorks in Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2020-03-10
Packaged: 2020-07-11 19:09:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19933063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haikyuu_philia/pseuds/haikyuu_philia
Summary: Joking around, slaughtering dragons, making some sarcastic comments, fighting in a full-grown war.These are the things that never have been more fun than with your friend. A boy from Tokyo, who names himself Puddinghead.But all of this happened online. Thanks to that you only know a few things about him - And when fortune opens an unexpected door, you walk through it.Even though real life can be quiet confusing at times.





	1. Level 1

**Author's Note:**

> WELCOME EVERYONE (^o^)
> 
> This happens to be my first fanfiction for Haikyuu!! that contains more chapters than one. Enjoy some fluff for our beloved spirit animal, Kenma!
> 
> Why him? - My personality is quite different from his and it should be a fun challenge to write his character. 
> 
> LEVEL 1 ---> START

**FightingBlossom** : That was soooooo close >.< We nearly got them!

**Puddinghead** : Indeed. I'm sure we will win next time!

**FightingBlossom** : Hopefully!! Are you up for another round? *(^O^)*

**Puddinghead** : Is that a real question? Anyways the answer is yes. Don't worry, I've got your back.

**FightingBlossom** : Alright, let's do this! Speaking of 'back' - I need to pack my bag for the field trip to Tokyo later. But this can wait. Let's kill these dragons!!

**Puddinghead** : Absolutely relatable.

-

**FightingBlossom** : Did we really end up playing six more rounds?

**Puddinghead** : Yes.

**FightingBlossom** : Do I still need to pack my suitcase for the field trip that will start in four hours?

**Puddinghead** : Maybe.

**FightingBlossom** : Do I regret it?

**Puddinghead** : Nope.

**FightingBlossom** : Correct. By the way, don't you have morning practice today? That bed-headed friend of yours is going to kill you, isn't he?

**Puddinghead** : Naaaaaa. Kuroo should have gotten used to it by now.

**FightingBlossom** : But I guess, I should go to bed or at least begin to put my stuff. I'm so excited to go to Tokyo!! I've never been there before!

**Puddinghead** : It's not that exciting. Really.

**FightingBlossom** : Easy to say for someone that lives there.

**Puddinghead** : Just don't mistake some random transmitting mast for the Tokyo Tower, alright?

**FightingBlossom** : This happens to people?! How?! (o_o)

**Puddinghead** : Don't know. On the other hand I've met many dorks that weren't able to differentiate between these two.

**FightingBlossom** : Wow, just wow. It's too bad that we aren't able to meet during my time in Tokyo. I would love to meet my favorite gaming-partner-in-crime <3

**Puddinghead** : Yeah, this is why I hate practice. I don't have time for anything else!

**FightingBlossom** : One day I will come and watch you while you are playing volleyball - That's a promise!

**Puddinghead** : If you say so.

**FightingBlossom** : Nothing can change my mind about that! I will go offline now. Have a good night, Kenma!

**Puddinghead** : Night, (Y/N).

-

Two hours later you finally made your way into your bed after you had packed the suitcase for your upcoming field trip. Since your school was placed in a rural area it kind of happened to become a tradition that the students go to Tokyo for five days in their second year. Now it was your turn.

Even though the clock reminded you of the short period of two hours until it would kill your eardrums, you couldn't fall asleep. Everytime you closed your eyes your brain would end up going crazy by imagining him. What he might look like. What his voice might sound like. What kind of person he might be in real-life. Kenma, the boy from Tokyo that you've got to know under the unexpected cute gaming-name Puddinghead.

Instead of visiting dreamland you've found yourself thinking about him. Not that you would mind this, but your heart started aching as soon as you reminded yourself of the fact that you wouldn't be able to meet him anyway. With a loud groan you changed your position from laying on the left side to the right one. If you only knew his school's name!

After randomly ending up in the same group of players in a RPG about half a year ago, the both of you got along quite well. It was a pretty unknown game which didn't stop you from totally enjoying it. So did Kenma. Thanks to this shared interest you happened to have very fangirl-ish conversations with him, online of course. Many different games, losses, victories and chats later you would say that you kind of became friends with him. But in contrast to his interests your knowledge about the boy himself was limited.

Kenma; names himself either applepi or Puddinghead in every single game; has started playing volleyball in elementary school; is in second year of high school now; his best friend's name is Kuroo; has an incredibly dry humor; can be surprisingly comforting whenever you have a bad day; makes your heart skip a beat whenever he texts you ... and he lives somewhere in Tokyo. Somewhere in freaking Tokyo, that has 10 million inhabitants. The probability of meeting him tends to zero.

Another groan escaped your mouth.

.

.

.

  
On the bus to Tokyo your friends could immediately tell that something was off with you: hair styled to a messy ponytail, rings under the eyes, a bit more pale than usual. Instead of being talkative and excited about the journey you decided to sit down and suffer in silence. Because they were extremely aware of your grumpy mood, that your gaming nights with a lack of sleep usually resulted in, your squad just greeted you. As soon as the bus started moving you dozed off to compensate the non-existing sleep from last night.

But even in your dreams you noticed that you had it bad for him. Very bad. If you were awake, you wouldn't stop thinking about him. If you were sleeping, your mind would make up the weirdest scenarios including him. At this rate you could definitely die from a heart attack pretty soon, at least in your opinion.

Slowly opening your eyes you regretted that decision only a few seconds later. The sun light scored a "massive damage" before you could even realize where exactly you were. To protect your precious ability to see you used one hand as a shield.

"We will arrive in Tokyo in about half an hour." A little bit confused you turned your head to look into your friend's face. Some of the classmates around you were sleeping safe and sound, but she was awake. And she giggled after you had let out a yawn.

Finally your brain started working as it left its energy-saving-mode. Then reality hit you - You will be in Tokyo in less than an hour?! The capital of your country was this close and you hadn't even noticed. Kenma's hometown was this close and you hadn't even noticed! Having a glance at the world outside the window you couldn't help yourself but take a picture to send it to him.

**FightingBlossom** _:_ Is this the Tokyo Tower? ~(°O°)~

**FightingBlossom** _:_ * _picture attached_ *

The moment you had clicked on 'send' you started to wait for his reply. To feed your growling stomach you ate one of your sandwiches, whose preparation had nearly ended up in your late arrival at the bus stop this morning. Your phone buzzed.

**Puddinghead** _:_ Funny. Very funny, little tourist.

Without knowing his voice you could imagine his tone and how he would say these words filled with sarcasm.

**FightingBlossom** _:_ Hey! Don't forget how I saved your ass last night, little healer.

This time it only took some seconds until his answer arrived.

**Puddinghead** _:_ While I was saving yours. By the way, do you remember Striking Stardust?

**FightingBlossom** _:_ Of course! It's supposed to be released this week, isn't it?

The usual warmth embraced your heart and without noticing it a smile appeared on your face.

**Puddinghead** _:_ Make sure to get your hands on it ASAP! The Multiplayer is said to be awesome!

**FightingBlossom** _:_ Sure thing! Can't wait to play it with you!

**Puddinghead** _:_ Same here. Class is about to start. See ya!

**FightingBlossom** _:_ Have fun!

Oh yeah, you loved how sending him some random stuff like a picture of a transmitting tower was able to end up in long conversations with him.

"Kenma, huh?" Your friend really had a thing for surprising you with her comments today. "You only smile that much while texting with him, (Y/N)."

Every part of your face was tinted in red. Yes, you really had it bad for him.

_._

_._

_._

In your opinion the days flew by way too fast. Only one day was left until you would have to go back to your hometown. Tokyo was loud, crowded and definitely not rural enough to live here forever, but for a meeting with Kenma you would go through all of this. You had kept your eyes as well as your ears open, had asked him some hidden questions about his location. In the end nothing had worked out. Even though you felt so close to him _,_ it was like he had never been farer away from you.

Much to your dismay your teachers had even limited your free time to a minimum. Normally you would follow the rules and try not to break them at all cost. Today was different. Kenma had texted you that some chain of stores should already sell _Striking Stardust_ ; before its official release.

After dinner you had sneaked out of the hotel in order to visit the closest store and be back before someone except for your roommate would notice. Every few steps you checked the directions on your phone. If everything went smoothly, you and Kenma would be able to play the game together tomorrow as he was about to buy it as well. Only the thought of that made your stomach prickle.

Another turn to your left and ... found it! You would never admit the intense feeling of relief that even covered your slight hope of randomly running into Kenma somewhere. (Y/N), a girl from a town in the middle of nowhere, was able to make her way through Tokyo. Thanks to the help of electronic navigation, but anyway - This achievement should be celebrated with buying a new game. What a coincidence that you were standing only a few meters away from such a store!

In front of it were placed a few benches, that a group of boys occupied completely. They obviously attended the same school as all of them wore matching uniforms. As you walked by you gave them a small nod in combination with a smile without saying a word.

"He should hurry, we have been waiting for ages", grumbled one of them just to correct himself a few seconds later. "But we all know how he is when a new game comes out."

And how you knew what this feels like! The tension that had been building up inside of you until you were finally able to buy the game, you were longing for. Then the excitement that is taking over as soon as you start to play, only to skip the tutorial in impatient and to not know how to walk two minutes later. These emotions caused gaming to be that addicting as it was!

Leaving the boys outside you made your way into the building and instantly changed your personality. The introverted high school student was gone; please welcome the passionate gamer girl! This store seemed to be like wonderland for you since the one in your hometown wasn't even half as big. You could literally tell how sparkling your eyes must have been.

After some struggles about orientation and finding the right section, you found the correct shelves pretty close to the entrance. A few minutes ago an assistant had asked you whether you were looking for something special or not. You, being the shy and socially awkward person you saw yourself as, had kindly said "No, thank you. I'm just having a look around."

Uh, you know, like a liar.

Before you could enter the aisles you let a boy pass, presumably the missing member of the group from earlier since he was wearing the same uniform. As soon as you saw the game, you grabbed it to reserve it for you and to have it saved in your hands.

//Kenma is going to be sooooo surprised and happy!//, you squeaked in your mind. Automatically you grabbed your phone to take a picture and send it to him. Caught in your happiness you didn't notice that the door opened.

"Hey. Please hurry up, we want to leave, Kenma!" Honestly you were extremely close to letting go of the game and your phone. Your heart had skipped like ten beats before you came back to reality. The door closed again like nothing had happened, but you knew it had. Sneaking around the corner, while hiding like a gangster, you tried to get a glance at the boy you had passed by earlier.

His name, the game store, Tokyo, the bed-headed guy waiting outside with the squad and his hair. This freaking pudding-like hair that simply invited you to call him a puddinghead. But what were you supposed to do now?

Going to him and say something like "Hey! I've heard your name is Kenma and I was wondering if you play games with a user called FightingBlossom, since I'm (Y/N)."?

Never.

Never ever.

The boy was standing at the checkout as he waited for someone to hand his money to. Approximately two minutes and he would be gone again. Your chance to meet him in person would be gone with him. Clenching your hands into fists you closed your right one around your phone. Next to being online your only connection to the guy that made your heart pound every day. Though, you had never called him before.

Thousands of text messages had been exchanged, which didn't turn out to be the ideal choice here. Before you could really think about it, you held your white device at your ear and started walking towards the checkout. It dialed.

Pressing the game against your chest you felt your heart race inside of it with every inch of your body. This must be him. He simply had to be your Kenma. Your thoughts alternated between little prayers and worries filled with regrets. Every step of yours, every sound from your phone - Your heart was about to explode.

"(Y/N)? Are you about to die or why are you calling me?"

Meanwhile you really were about to die as your heart decided to skip another ten beats. It was him. This boy at the checkout, that was holding his own phone against his ear, was Kenma. Your Kenma.

"Ehm, yeah. I mean, no!" You tried to whisper without him noticing it. "Would you mind doing me a favor? Don't ask why and turn around."

"Okay?"

The guy in line adjusted his bag before making a move. Then he turned around to meet your eyes a little later. Looking into his nearly emotionless but somehow confused face you planted a smile on your lips.

Your hand that was holding the game waved at him a little:

"Hey Puddinghead."


	2. LEVEL 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Standing in front of each other for the first time, you get to know a Kenma who you had never thought you would. But he isn't the only new person that you meet this evening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's continue with our journey through the lovely world of gaming - And what would a great game be without its antagonists?
> 
> So let me introduce you to our most important side characters in this chapter ;)
> 
> LEVEL 2 ---> START

You swore to god that you had to hold back a laugh as he nearly dropped his phone in surprise. On the other hand you were completely overwhelmed by your own emotions: happiness because you finally met him; sadness as it would only be for a few moments; confusion since you didn't know how to behave now and so on. None of you said another word which ended in you cancelling the call.

Luckily only two other customers were looking for something in the store and the cashier was nowhere to be seen. That's why none of them bothered you two teenagers standing in the middle of the aisle while just staring at each other.

Meanwhile you tried to catch as many details of his appearance as possible. From his bicoloured hair to his uniform and even the strap of one of his favorite games that was attached to his bag. Everything. You felt a comfortable warmth surrounding your whole body and your cheeks heated up a little. To decrease the awkwardness of the situation you decided to make the first practical step towards him.

Well, you tried your best to make this seem like a normal conversation between friends. But your mind and your heart told you other things. The closer you got, the more you noticed that he was scanning your body as well. In contrast you couldn't stop capturing his cat-like eyes.

"This is so much creepier than I thought!", you broke the silence afterwards. Instead of a sarcastic comment he only gave a nod in your direction as a reaction. You chuckled a bit because he had mentioned how socially awkward he can be multiple times before. "Since this is our first meeting in real-life, let us start with the formalities."

For doing this you put your phone away and stretched out your now free hand into his direction: "My name is (L/N) (Y/N) aka. FightingBlossom. It's nice to meet you!"

Before he actually shook your hand he glanced at it like it could be poisoned or something.

"Kozume Kenma. Puddinghead or applepi. Nice to meet you."

The smile you immediately flashed at him made his mimics soften a little. Certainly you, being the absolute distracted girl you were, didn't even notice that. Someone cleared their throat behind the boy, which made both of you turn around. The cashier had made his comeback to the checkout.

Kenma paid for his stuff at first before you placed your bait at the desk. While scanning your article the man look at the two of you standing next to each other: "I see, this game seems to be very popular, isn't it?" He placed your version of it in a plastic bag with the store's logo on it.

Thanks to this god-sent angel, Kenma and you had a topic to really talk about. During your way to the door you had already exchanged information about the playable characters, the graphics and obviously the multiplayer-mode. Both of you totally beamed in delight. The moment Kenma exited the store with a girl that he was actually talking to, the group of boys waiting for him went crazy:

Kuroo nearly suffocated after choking on his water.

Yamamoto's eyes formed to hearts after seeing you; a living girl that showed interest in games.

Yaku wasn't sure whether to be confused as hell or proud of his baby cat.

And Lev jumped up, pointed at you and screamed: "KENMA-SAN FOUND HIMSELF A GIRLFRIEND AT THE GAMING STORE!"

"Shut up, Lev", the bicolour-haired boy next to you mumbled. In return you shrieked after hearing the tall boy yelling at you. Together with Kenma you joined the group and you turned completely back to your introverted self. New people, new area, new topics for a conversation. Definitely the most exciting evening of this whole trip!

From all the boys a dark haired, extremely bed-headed guy reached out his hand in your direction at first. He acted like he didn't nearly die a few seconds ago and gave you his signature smirk: "Whoever makes Kenma talk and smile, especially at the same time, deserves a medal. The name is Ku-"

After listening to the first syllable of his name, all of the information Kenma had you provided with was kicking in. In order to present you at your best you started to complete: "Kuroo Tetsurou, Kenma's childhood friend and neighbor, obviously a bed-head, third year at his high school as well as a middleblocker and the captain of his volleyball team." Smirking back at him, you swallowed your regrets. "Kenma told me some things about you. My name is (L/N) (Y/N) and I play games with him online. It's nice to meet you!"

With these words you shook his hand. "The pleasure is all mine." Your hands parted and he went on. "What else did this little puddinghead tell yo-"

Being interrupted for the second time, this time because of your phone, you gave him an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry. Just a moment!" Turning around you took the call because the display showed your friend's name. "Hey. What's up?" Your eyes widened at her answer "WHAT?! Oh god, I'm on my way! 10 minutes, I will be back in 10 minutes!"

Now slightly more stressed you faced the confused looks of the five boys. Even Kenma raised an eyebrow: "Is everything alright?"

In the meantime you put your phone into the bag while trying to remember the way back to the hotel. "I might or might not have sneaked out of the hotel my class is staying at and my teacher is checking the attendance right now. So I need to go."

Looking at Kenma it broke your heart to leave him after just meeting the boy a few minutes ago. On the other hand you didn't have a real choice here because staying would cause a bunch of trouble not only for you, but for your friend as well. You bowed a bit in front of the boys, whose names you didn't even know for sure. "It was nice to meet you! Maybe we will have the chance to continue this meet-up one day." "I'll text you later, Kenma! Bye, everyone!"

And off you went, back into the street you had come from earlier.

Honestly you felt like crying as you had finally found Kenma but weren't really able to spend time with him. For now you had to concentrate on not being caught while breaking the rules. The boys you left behind had stared after you until you disappeared around the corner. Not one word was spoken up to that moment.

But then Kenma had to deal with Lev and Yamamoto, who wanted to have flirting advice, during their way home. The worst part of it happened to be the time he ended up being alone with Kuroo.

"So Kenma, how was meeting your online-crush in person?"

"She is not my crush."

"She is."

"She isn't."

"Is."

"Isn't."

"Is."

"Kuroo."

"Kenma."

"Tetsurou."

"Puddinghead."

"Bed-head."

The setter couldn't help it but think about you saying his name. He didn't know why his heart ached the moment your departure tomorrow and the distance between the two of you came to his mind. Until today he had never cared about this, why did he now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LEVEL 2 ---> CLEARED
> 
> The next chapter might take a while to be published because I haven't finished it yet. But feel free to have a look at my one shots in the meantime. End of surreptitious advertising :D


	3. LEVEL 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After a long absence, I came back here to see the cutest comments from you guys! I couldn't stop smiling for a solid 24 hours, but it nearly brought me to tears as well. Your words mean so much to me that I can't put it onto words myself - Most importantly, I want to let you know that they didn't go unnoticed. Thank you so much for your appreciation <3 
> 
> So, without any further due:
> 
> LEVEL 3 ---> START

Sometimes the past can feel like a dream - a distant memory that is presenting itself as an oddly vivid picture in the back of your mind. One blow could make it faint forever, if the whole brain wasn’t working against this. No matter how many thoughts surround it, a slight taste of doubt will never leave. Even though it might have happened only a few hours or days ago.

Kenma found himself laying on his back while starring at his right hand, which was stretched out towards the ceiling. Every now and then he would turn it to face either the back or the front of it. Two completely different looking sides of the same thing. But after he had seen both for the first time, he couldn’t think of his own hand as being complete without them. Once he knew of the formerly unknown side’s existence, he simply wasn’t able to forget it again.

The same could be applied to your voice.

Shortly after your return to your hometown you had contacted the boy to try out the oh-so-glorious multiplayer mode of _Striking Stardust_ and somehow one thing had lead to another: Kenma and you had used the voice chat for most of it.

By now he didn’t dare to check the clock in his room because he knew that his alarm would wake him much earlier than appreciated. For three days in a row you two had played the game for multiple hours in order to make a lot of progress on the mission, which was much more fun together compared to doing it alone. Well, according to the darkness outside of his window Sunday had already come to an end.

Welcome Monday. A normal day of school, including a morning and an afternoon practice to prepare for the preliminaries of Nationals.

„It sounds odd“, Kenma mumbled to himself. „I don’t get why it sounds so odd.“

Beforehand your voice had not bothered him. Not the sound of it. Not your laugh. Nothing about it had felt wrong in his ears. At this very moment he couldn’t put it into words why he immediately started to hate the headset as soon as you started talking.

The device _always_ managed to steal depth from your tone and it couldn’t quite catch your giggles of excitement when you successfully ended a quest last minute. Or how you smiled into the mic while you were cheering for him to win as well. Rarely he heard those whispered curses of you in your concentrated state, which originally were only meant for you to hear. But he did anyways.

Talking to you via phone or voice chat wasn’t the same anymore. Ever since meeting you in real life something had changed. Like he had listened to the remix of one of his favourite songs, but now the first version couldn’t satisfy him anymore because the mash-up had been better.

At some point between trying to forget about this thoughts and fearing the sit-ups of morning practice, his mind went blank.

„Kozume Kenma, I swear to the gods of volleyball, if you don’t wake up now, I will throw your PSP out of this window.“

The next thing he knew was that his eyes flew open. Within a second he sat up like a vampire in his casket and turned around to face the intruder. Kenma’s eyes met the big grin of a specific childhood friend, who didn’t even bother to make a comment about Kenma still wearing his clothes from yesterday.

„You really have to stop being such a nuisance, Kuroo.“

Kenma only sighed before yawning and stretching his back to calm down from this early morning shock.   
  
„Gladly, if you stop playing games until the middle of the night, don’t leave the lights on AND turn up to practice motivated without my assistance to get you there on time“, Kuroo replied in a sassy, yet serious tone. The grin, which was showing his teeth, didn’t leave his face, though.

„Demon“, Kenma said under his breath. „By the way, what you are holding in your hand isn’t my console. That’s my phone, genius.“

A glare filled with disappointment and judgement hit Kuroo as powerful as it could be at six in the morning. Not that he seemed to be affected by that. He wanted to confront Kenma with the time and how the latter had managed to ignore three alarms. The screen lightened to reveal a much more interesting circumstance.

In the meantime Kenma had climbed out of his bed to walk past his friend, aiming for the bathroom on the other side of the hallway. If he had to leave his beloved fort, he could at least do it with brushed teeth. The longer he watched himself in the mirror, the more he felt his eyelids getting heavier and heavier.

„Uh, Kenma! (Y/N) texted you to check whether you are awake or not. You even saved her with her first name and a cherry blossom emoji. How cute! But you think she is cuter, right?“

Kuroo’s words echoed through the empty house much louder than necessary. It only needed the first two sentences to make Kenma choke for seemingly no reason. His double in the mirror starred back at him with a confused look before he walked back to his room. There Kuroo greeted him with this stupid grin while casually more or less chilling in his childhood friend’s chair.

„What’s up?“, the black-haired boy dared to ask sarcastically.

For a second Kenma actually considered hissing at him. But with his phone still being held hostage at potential gunpoint - as in Kuroo making videos without permission - he decided not to. Today wasn’t another day to fall victim to his pranks.

Instead of answering the remarks, he ignored the other one and grabbed his sports uniform from his closet. Every weekend his mother would wash it for him before she would put it at the same place - neatly folded. From Tuesday to Friday it was waiting for him to take it on the chair of doom, also known as the chair that Kuroo was sitting on right now.

Back in the bathroom Kenma got rid off his old clothes as he changed into the red jogging suit. A tender smell of flowers reached his nose, the detergent his mother loved to use at the beginning of autumn.

The memory of your smiling face popped up in his head. Without a second thought his mind tried to recall the details of that evening last week. Maybe it had been your shampoo or your body lotion, anyways Kenma vividly remembered the subtle scent of roses like you were standing directly next to him right now. Unfortunately, you weren’t and he came back to his senses.   
  
Sleep deprivation must be getting the best of him, he thought while he combed his hair with his fingers. Morning routine finished.

Once he had eaten the pre-made breakfast from his mother in the kitchen, of course under the sharp eyes of his friend, he got his phone back. He shoved it into the pocket of his jacket and zipped it up to avoid another unnecessary heart attack in combination with sarcastic comments out of the other boy’s mouth. For today his phone had been through enough.

„Practice time, pudding head! Only two months left until the preliminaries and we need to proof that cats are superior to owls“, Kuroo announced.

They had just left the house to make their way to school, but he didn’t even give silence a change to reign. Playing on his game console, Kenma kept the communication to a minimum by nodding regularly or sighing at whatever sentence had come earned it. This way he didn’t pay a lot of attention, yet showed some kind of interaction.

„Why don’t we invite your precious (Y/N) to the preliminaries. I bet she would love to see you play, Kenma!“

The second year stopped in his tracks and continued to stare at the display.

„Ha, so you really care about her“, Kuroo cooed. „I knew it when I saw her saved name. You never use emojis, except for the one rolling its eyes!“

Even Kenma himself couldn’t explain why Kuroo’s words had made him stand still for a few seconds, despite knowing that he had never thought about this topic. After only chatting with you for such a long time, he had somehow forgotten that you were actually living in the same country. Four hours away by bus. The meeting last Thursday had changed this feeling to the realisation how real you were and not an NPC from one of the games.

You were existent in this world. Still, talking to you in person, touching you or inhaling the sweet scent of your shampoo seemed impossible. So why worry about you coming to the match, if you most likely wouldn’t anyways?

„Saved names mean nothing, Kuroo the Churro“, Kenma said with the usual apathy in his voice.

About a year ago, his childhood friend had noticed his name is Kenma’s phone - Kuroo. Days of complaints followed and in the end Kenma had changed it to one of Bokuto’s many puns with Kuroo’s name. And ever since Kenma had been too motivated to do nothing about it, which resulted in him never setting it back. Et voila, Kuroo the Churro was born.

In your case, the both of you had been on first-name-basis for a while now. Obviously he wouldn’t use your last name then. The cherry blossom emoji had matched your username Fighting Blossom way too perfectly. He could have changed it every day, especially now because Kuroo was mocking him about it.

But he didn’t want to.

„Mean, really mean! Kuroo the Churro is a valid and artistic name of perfection“, the third-year whined, casually crossing his arms behind his head.

„If you say so, Kubroo Tetsubrou“, Kenma referred to his saved name in Bokuto’s phone. Or should he say Brokuto Kotabrou?

Only the thought of this madness deserved a sigh. That’s why he did it at the dark-haired boy’s following comments about the meaning of brohood, going on about how important it was to have your bro by your side, if your childhood friend wasn’t around because otherwise he himself would feel lonely. Drama Queen would suit him much better to say the least.

This lovely discussion went on and on until they reached the gym of their high school. Finally Kuroo had more people to concentrate on, while Kenma silently placed himself at a bench.   
  
First things first, he pulled his smartphone out of his pocket to check it himself instead of listening to someone reading the messages out loud. Well, at least the short versions that were displayed as part of the notifications before you had to unlock it. There it was, the message Kuroo had mentioned earlier. Within three seconds Kenma had opened the chatroom.

_Good morning! I hope you didn’t oversleep. First day of school after the field trip, meh. Have fun at school und give it your best. See you later in the chat of StriSta :)_

For a couple of seconds his fingers were hovering above the keyboard, indecisive about what letters to type. Those would combine to words and words to sentences, which would give them a meaning. With a meaning came power. The power to reach others, to make them happy, but also hurt them. In times of the digital age no mistake could ever be forgotten because it would be stored somewhere for eternity.

In the end Kenma chose an unsaying „ _Morning. Made it to practice on time. See you later.“_ without a cat emoji, which he had internally debated about before sending the message.

„Is that your girlfriend you are texting with?“, Lev asked an estimated three centimetres away from his ear.

Like the cats with the cucumbers, he nearly jumped in his seat and had to suppress a shrieking sound that had been about to escape from his mouth. Nevertheless he clenched his hands around his phone as his whole body went stiff in shock. Breathing heavily, he turned his head towards his underclassman, who only happened to smile at him like an innocent puppy. A gigantic innocent puppy.

„Will she come to watch our practice some time? Or even a match? Can she play volleyball? Oh, I want to show her my spikes! She has to see the next ace of Nekoma! Maybe she could become our cheerleader for Nationals or even our manager. That would be absolutely awesome! Can you ask her, Kenma-san?“, Lev went on without taking a breath.

„She doesn’t even live in Tokyo, so that’s a no“, Kenma shut him off.

This time he put his phone into his bag when he stood up to go to the lockers. If Kuroo saw him using it for too long, he would make him run laps. Five of those nasty laps around the court before practice had even started. There was no way Kenma would risk doing that today.

„LEV! GRAB A BALL! WE WILL BEGIN WITH RECEIVES“, Yaku yelled from the other side of the hall with no mercy.

At least this conversation was coming to an end and it gave Kenma’s heart the opportunity to recover from the stress. Shortly after his retreat to the locker room, the coach blew his whistle to announce the official begin of practice. Here we went again, all for the sake of Nationals, the team and the pride of Nekoma.

~

About four hours away from Kenma’s current position you had closed the door of your room behind you. A long day had not necessarily done good things to your tired body: Your shoulders were hurting from the heavy backpack, your hair felt like a mess thanks to the weather of September and basically your whole person screamed for a break of five years. Suddenly hibernation sounded like a decent option.

Crashing on your bed, you used your last remaining power to grab your phone. Some music or simply social media might have the ability to recharge you rather quickly, instead of taking a nap of an accidental three hours.

Since entering the house your phone had already connected to the wifi and had loaded all the missed messages. Two of those were from Kenma, which you noticed while scrolling through the notifications. You still chuckled at the pudding emoji, that you had placed behind his first name in your contacts.

„Two messages? That’s rare“, you concluded in a conversation with yourself.

_Morning. Made it to practice on time. See you later._

This had been nine hours ago and a smile made its way on your lips. The exhaustion still dominated inside of your body, but now an oddly familiar tingle spread from your stomach to your chest. Other than that, the second message brought a bit of confusion into your system.

A single cat emoji. One of those laughing ones, sent with a delay of a minute in comparison to the first text.

You chose to ignore it, even though you didn’t forget it. Kenma usually wasn’t the type of person to use emojis, at least under regular circumstances. Early morning practice definitely wasn’t part of the environment that didn’t miss to make him happy.

_So, I’m home now. Please tell me that you survived practice. I need someone to finally conquer the galaxy with!_

Right then and there your phone buzzed again, indicating that you had received a new message. According to the time it could be Kenma, who should be heading home from afternoon practice now. When you checked your assumption, you wrinkled your forehead at the notification on the lock screen.

A number which you hadn’t saved yet had texted you. Did someone get it without asking you directly or maybe was it someone from a groupchat?

As a person who had turned off the read-notifications you clicked on it without too much worry. In the beginning your heart sped up a little as you read the first words. Then it began to race inside of your chest since you had understood which stranger had messaged you out of nowhere. To some extent this person was a stranger to you, but he wasn’t completely.

_Hey (Y/N), I sneaked your number from Kenma’s phone this morning. Easy as pie because he has never changed the pin. So, he doesn’t know about it. I’m normally a kind person, but it was unavoidable this time._

_ANYWAYS, we - as in the volleyball club - plan a big surprise for his upcoming birthday. I figured that you might want to help us out? There will be cake, decoration, and Kenma ;)_  
  
By the way, this is Kuroo, lol.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The longest chapter I've written for this story so far (out of 3, wow XD)! I can promise that the next one won't take another eight months, I swear!
> 
> LEVEL 3 ---> CLEARED


End file.
